Sunday, January 11, 2009

Pulmonary Prognosis Re: Pulmonaria

Lungwort
"O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;" ---Shakespeare

And this plant, one of my favorites, by any other name
would be as wonderfully sweet! :-)

So... be still my beating heart as I do a Pulmonaria drumroll! :-)
(These are the varieties I have so far.)

'Baby Blue'


'Bubble Gum'


'Diana Clare'


'E.B. Anderson'


'Gaelic Sunset'



'Majeste'


'Milky Way'


'Samourai'

'Trevi Fountain'

I absolutely love these plants. You can tell which ones were new ones planted during Spring 2008 because they have only fall photos. Watching these plants grow and bloom is one of many reasons to look forward to Spring's arrival. ('Gaelic Sunset' is not new; I just couldn't find the photo of its flowers!)

I'm trying to take personal photos of all my plants for my (hopefully soon-to-be) "Wonderful Plant Log Notebook." This notebook is supposed to be one of my (many) Winter projects! Currently, it's in bits and pieces and my imagination. :-)

Pulmonaria love shade and dappled shade. They don't enjoy very dry conditions! Lungwort, like Virginia Bluebells, bud and begin flowering in shades of pink and turn blue as they mature. My wish list contains 'Raspberry Splash.' Doesn't that sound enticing? ;-)

For much more information, and for what seems like it must be a complete list of cultivars and/or varieities, check this site! You can see that if I'm attempting to make a complete collection, I have a Long Way to go! (I doubt that I'll try, but YOU could!) ;-)

Well, this COULD qualify as a shady subject! ;-)

32 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I can't seem to get these to grow in my garden. I have tried several different varieties in several different places but no luck. Booooo I just love them too.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I love pulmonaria too. They are one of the few things that actually grow under my cedar. I love watching the flowers change color.

Nutty Gnome said...

Pulmonaria is happily established and grows very well in the shady parts of my UK garden.In autumn I transplanted some into the Japanese garden I'm creating and they've not died yet, so I'm hoping for a good show in spring!
I'm new to blogging and am really enjoying trawling through all the gardening blogs - hope mine ends up as good as yours!

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

You could use one more Pulmonaria :-) I love them as well and they seem to do okay in my garden. Love their cheerful colors.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

I too love pulmonaria; not sure what type mine is (got her at a plant swap), but judging from your photos, she's a baby blue. She gets a huge (and I mean HUGE) mound of blue/pink flowers in spring. Even when I divided her, she came back impressively. Right now, she's under about two feet of snow, but I'm trying not to think about that.
~Monica

Shady Gardener said...

Lisa, I use amended soil everywhere here, due to the fact that we have clay, clay, clay. In addition, I don't let them get too dry. Last year was a wonderful year; I hardly ever had to water! I garden on a slope, so when we do get rain... there's plenty of moisture for awhile. Try again. :-) Perhaps you could get a little start from someone?

Garden in Progress, Yea! We can enjoy them "together." ;-)

Nutty Gnome, Nice to meet you. I'm flattered by your compliment. However, everyone's blog is interesting because they're as diverse as we are. ;-) I'm happy to know you have these little plants. (By the way, I just purchased a little "gnome door" to prop up next to a tree in a garden. Looking forward to setting it out this Spring!) ha.

Carolyn G, I know... but I can't help it. :-) I really would like to obtain Raspberry Splash. Then I can move on to another diversion. ha.

Monica, It seems that Baby Blue flowers live up to their name. They're lighter blue than the others. I'm so looking forward to Spring - 1) hopefully all the new plants return, and 2) hopefully they all bloom! ;;-)

Anonymous said...

Shady - your garden is so nicely organized! Beautiful plants, as well.

Shady Gardener said...

Nancy, Thank you for your compliment. I'm trying to be organized... ;-) Are you able to grow these plants?

Anonymous said...

Pulmonaria are such nice little plants, with interesting foliage, and pretty flowers. Of course, growing in the shade is always a good trait too. I have P. Samourai, which I love for its silver foliage, and long leaves. It keeps its leaves right through the first light frosts too. Lungworts really needs a new PR spin on their common name though.

Shady Gardener said...

Northern Shade, I'm with you on the fact that they could use a different moniker! However, it makes me love them more, I think. ;;-)

Gail said...

Shady,

No wonder it's a fav plant...it's lovely. It would light up a shade garden with it's great foliage. You know mine keeps getting smaller and smaller. It's too dry here! I will just have to enjoy yours!

Thanks~~Do keep warm....I hear some wicked cold weather is on its way.

gail

Shady Gardener said...

Gail, Wickedly cold and perhaps more snow and wind. I hope I'm indoors tomorrow morning. (Originally had some walking plans with a friend, but...) ;-) I'm having such a fun time, though, going through old photos (most of which have never been "published!")
my word verification is "homisheo" (That's what I hope to be tomorrow - homish-don'tyouknow?) ;-)

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady,
How kind of you to stop by my semi-shuttered blog today! I appreciate such wonderful visits when I'm too busy to keep up with it. Soon I hope to get back to more regular posting and I'm really hoping to announce some great news this coming weekend if everything going on here behind the scenes works out! More on that later....

We have 3 E.B. Andersons now (one planted in 2007 and 2 more this past spring) and we love them, and they did quite well this year, so we're hoping for lots of blooms in the spring....

They are really beautiful plants and seem to like our Woodland Garden so far!

Rosemary said...

Hi Shady
Thanks
3 of my favourite plants , pulmonaria, blackberry lily and catmint and then you topped it off with a butterfly, so enjoyed my visit.

Shady Gardener said...

IVG, Thanks for visiting. I miss your verbose notes! (I'm so non-verbose when I leave comments.)
E.B. Anderson is a great variety. I was threading my way through the old photos again last night and discovered a few more that I hadn't found when I made this post. That's okay...but it was tempting to add them. ;-)

Rosemary, Always glad to have you stop by! I'm glad you enjoyed seeing some of your favorite plants! Yes, that Giant Swallowtail is a thrill. :-)

Anonymous said...

The perfect plant for your Shady Garden! I can see why you love it for many reasons. Your plant log notebook sounds interesting too. I think you should post portions of it after you create it!

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Kathleen, I think it's a perfect plant, too. In fact, I received a gardening catalog today with Raspberry Splash and David Ward. I know I'll order RS, but the DW looks good... ;-)

I'm going to do a little more work on my notebook/journal today. I'd be glad to post about it later.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Shady, I found a nice photo of my pulmonaria clump, which I included in my latest blog entry (of Jan. 13). I bet you'll think she's just as cute as I do!
~Monica

joey said...

Though not as fortunate to have as many varities (you fortunate gal) I adore Pulmonaria, Shady, a plant too often overlooked!

Shady Gardener said...

Monica, Your clump is much more than cute - it's breathtaking!!! (Esp. at the end of your snowy post!) Thank you for mentioning me and linking. ;-)

Joey, I AM fortunate! Maybe the word is "obsessed!" ha. There are a billion varieties out there, but I think perhaps only one more... ;-) Thanks for visiting!

Ewa said...

I also grow them in my garden - sweet small and selfseeding plants.
I still wonder why it is so underestimated?

Kylee Baumle said...

Shady, I have Trevi Fountain, Opal, and Majeste. The first two have done great, but Majeste is anything but majestic! It has struggled for some reason. Trevi Fountain is by far the best performer of the three. I love them, too.

Their blooms go through much the same color changes as those of Virginia Bluebells, which I also love!

Anonymous said...

I think they are great plants Shady, and I was so impressed with mine last year, because until I started REALLY noting the things in the garden for GBBD I had not realized just how long they flowered for.
K

Shady Gardener said...

Ewa, I believe they are getting a following, as people are developing more and more varieties. :-) I'm glad you share my affection for them.

Kylee, I think it's the soil or specific conditions for a particular site that causes some plants to do better than others. I'm not familiar with Opal. I'll have to look her up. ;-) I love the Virginia Bluebells, too!! Last year they were appearing in interesting places, so it'll be fun to see the developments this Spring! :-)

Karen, I'm feeling the same way, in that the first couple of years (or three) we lived here, I was creating flower beds all over the place. I'd done a fair amount of research during the winters, so I knew, pretty much, the types of plants I wanted... but I think I really took note these past couple of years... more decidedly this past Spring. (Especially since I'm getting closer to filling the beds and I can concentrate more on projects.) Blogging helps me take note of the details, because it gets me up close and documenting! A Good Thing! ;-) I just realized I responded to you in Book Format! Glad you visited. :-)

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I have only 1 kind of Pulmonaria, but I do look forward to its blooms and then its beautiful foliage. I've been thinking about putting together a plant log, but I've gotten absolutely nowhere with it so far.

Anonymous said...

Love these little beauties... oh to have space enough to cultivate such diversity within one genus - for that matter, Tricyrtis would be next on that wish list. Most enjoyable!/Deb

Shady Gardener said...

Deb, I'm glad you share the affection for these plants. :-) The situation was that there was one sparse flowerbed in the back and none in the front when we moved here. I've certainly rectified that situation! ;-) However, there's so much space that it has taken a lot of planning, soil amendment, (and purchasing and seeding) to fill the spaces. I'm on "relaxed mode" going into this Spring. whew! But, now I can really enjoy it!!!

Shady Gardener said...

MMD, I would think, due to your plant journal, it would not be too terribly hard to create a plant list. (I really am going to get Raspberry Splash!) ;-)

Jan said...

Hi ShadyG,
Most of my back yard is shady...I have some huge trees back there that block the sun most of the time. Some areas never see the sun at all. This pulmonaria sounds like it might be something I need to try! I want to do raised beds this year, also. I've never had them before. Thanks for a beautiful post...I hope your plants flower and bloom the entire summer of 2009!!

Shady Gardener said...

Jan, you'll have to check on these plants. They are very very easy to grow, besides being distinctive. :-) We have shade in common. Most of my toad lilies never see sun, at least not once the trees grow leaves! Perhaps I'll have more flowers to photograph this spring. In the meantime, put these on your "wish list!" ;-)

Dennis said...

Great set of pix. This is such a cool plant. I found an interesting article about it from Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC at: (www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Plants/Genus/Pulmonaria)

Unknown said...

early spring bees love them as well